Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas’ Complex Litigation Center received major news last week, when Hon. John W. Herron, Administrative Judge of the Court’s Trial Division, issued an order revising how mass tort litigation will be conducted in Philadelphia.

Judge Herron’s order, titled General Court Regulation No. 2012-01, responds to a variety of recent concerns from litigants with cases in the Complex Litigation Center. Views were solicited through a review process initiated by Judge Herron on November 28, 2011. At that time, Judge Herron ended reverse bifurcation in trials involving pharmaceutical products and invited general comments regarding the Complex Litigation Center’s procedures.

General Court Regulation No. 2012-01 represents the first general overhaul of the Complex Litigation Center’s practices in many years. The order notes the sizable pending caseloads in many of the Center’s Mass Tort Programs. Particular attention is paid to the asbestos program, which does not comply with ABA standards for timely disposition of cases. In part this was caused by a prior decision of the Court to invite out-of-state plaintiffs to file cases within Philadelphia. Several of the new changes aim to discourage out-of-state filings.

While a number of the new requirements in Regulation No. 2012-01 specifically apply to asbestos litigation, the order makes substantial changes to all of the Mass Tort Programs within the Complex Litigation Center, including pharmaceutical mass torts.

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